


Nighttiming, or How to Tell the Difference Between Destiny and Happenstance.

by fullgallantry



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-08
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:08:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28632255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fullgallantry/pseuds/fullgallantry
Summary: Willie is captain of the football team. Luke is a bad boy who runs with the wrong crowd. Alex is just trying to survive his last year of high school. Reggie sees the way they look at him. Julie is throwing a party. There's always a reason to believe in love.
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Luke Patterson/Alex Mercer
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53





	1. Fake Happy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex reunites with two of his childhood friends, Willie and Luke, while in class.

_"I know I said that I was doing good_  
_and that I'm happy now. I should've known_  
_when things were going good, that's when_  
_I'd get knocked down."_

-Williams, Hayley & York, Taylor. " **Fake Happy**." _After Laughter_ , performed by Paramore, Fueled By Ramen, 2017.  
  
  
  
Impressions made on the heart are hard to cover up. There's plaster, sawdust, the fleeting embrace of another person after the first, a number of things that might quell the sudden puncture of heartbreak. none of them work for very long or very effectively, however.   
  
Of course, Alex Mercer wouldn't know. He's never had a girlfriend that left as deep an impression on his heart as the ones in the movies. He's dated plenty of girls, sure. All of them were wonderful, if you ask him, all of them sweet and kind and caring and empathetic and frankly, kind of a pain in the ass. There's something about holding a girls hand that makes Alex feel unfulfilled. There's supposed to be lightning, supposed to be sparks or power outages or whatever the feeling of being in love is. He's sure there's something wrong with him.  
  
"Maybe you're gay?" Reggie, his best friend, had mentioned a long while ago, casually, over lunch.   
  
"Maybe." Alex repeats, taking a bite of the sandwich he'd made that morning. "Maybe I should find a dude to make out with to see if it's different."   
  
That was what, two weeks ago? Now, the only thing on Alex's mind is if he's charged his laptop enough to watch Love, Actually on the bus ride to the museum today.   
  
The concept of romance is not lost on him. He certainly longs for a relationship that makes him feel like he could leap a tall building in a single bound, the kind that makes him want to be a better person, or the kind that can bend space and time for the two people to be together. It just hasn't happened yet. At least, that's what his mom says.   
  
"Reggie," the teacher, Ms. Noelle, calls.   
  
"Here!" Reggie calls back.  
  
"Alex."  
  
"Here."   
  
"Julie."  
  
"Here!"  
  
"William."  
  
"Here!"   
  
William Wincott, better known as Willie to his friends, is by no means the quiet type. He's loud, popular, always respectful to the teachers but always willing to make a joke at the most opportune time. To say he's the absolute golden boy of the school is an understatement. Willie is one of the men on Alex's list of 'makes me feel something', an incredibly small grouping of names that give him a stir in parts of him previously unexplored. Alex isn't sure if he wants to be with Willie, or just be him.  
  
He's settled on be with because be feels like a lot of work. Remembering all those names, being able to make jokes at the drop of a hat? Unlikely.   
  
"Luke- Luke? Patterson?" Ms. Noelle looks up from the roster, scanning the room as a hand shoot up near the back. "You've served your in school suspension?"  
  
"Yes, ma'am." Luke says, cooly. The entire room has turned their attention to him.  
  
She tucks the roster under her arm, approaching him cautiously. "May I have your slip, Mr. Patterson?"  
  
Luke nods, reaching into his backpack with ease. The entire exchange is more tense than an old western movie. Everyone watches with the same intent as a town watching the sheriff duke it out with an outlaw. They're all simply waiting for the guns to go of at high noon instead of pulling guns themselves, which arguably, is the sensible thing to do. He pulls out a folded piece of paper, making no motion between his backpack and her hand that isn't a direct line. She unfolds it, scanning it with her eyes for a second before nodding. She hands it back to him, but keeps her hand on his desk while she leans forward to say something. He nods, silently agreeing with her to something.   
  
Ms. Noelle continues on her roll call for the rest of the class until the entire student body is called, save for one Rebecca Nielson, whose parents have expressly forbid she visit a museum filled with the devil's teachings about evolution and how we came from monkeys. Ms. Noelle gently lets her know she'll be sitting in the library for the expanse of the day. She does not take the news lightly.  
  
After Rebecca storms out and the class has ceased it's jittering, Ms. Noelle returns to the front, waiting silently for the class to settle down. "Alright, class. As you know, we will be headed to the natural history museum connected to the college today." She reaches to her desk, sliding a thick stack of papers off of it and handing it to the kid in the front left desk, instructing him to take one and pass it around. "You are receiving a handout worksheet. There are thirty search and explain questions on them, which means that you have the full four hour trip to complete those thirty questions. We'll be returning to school just as eight period begins, but you will not be expected to return to class. If you've driven here, you're more than welcome to drive home." She holds her hands up when the noise becomes too prominent again. Alex feels a tap on the shoulder. He turns around, retrieving the last worksheet in the pile. "You'll notice that there are only enough worksheets for half the class, that is because you will be working in pairs for the entirety of the assignment. People with a worksheet may now pick their partners, and when I get the call that the buses have arrived, we'll leave class to meet them."  
  
There are certain perks to being a senior. Ms. Noelle has always been one of the teachers that seems to actually care about their students. She was hard on Alex about his paperwork when they first met over a year ago, and she was the one who inspired him to try and get into college for writing. He's thankful to her, especially now that all that hard work has paid off.   
  
Alex waves to Reggie, who nods, already knowing that they'll be partners for the project when he feels another tap on the shoulder. He turns, quickly, unable to hide the shock in his expression when he sees Willie staring back at him.  
  
"Hey, Alex." He smiles at him, the ghost of feelings bubbling in Alex's stomach again. 

"H-Hey, uh- Willie, hey. What's up?"  
  
"Do you have a partner yet?"   
  
"Yeah, uh- Yeah, Reggie and I were gonna-"  
  
"Right, Reggie." Willie flicks his attention in Reggie's direction, offering Alex's friend a small wave. "Cool, yeah. I was just curious. See you out there."  
  
With no time to respond, Alex watches Willie's perfect frame turn back to his seat. The regret is immediate.  
  
There's not much longer to wait as the group is ushered to the buses. They all walk together down the long corridors, Reggie and Alex in the midst of the walking stampede of kids. Alex can almost swear he feels someone watching him, the undeniable act of eyes on the back of his neck prevalent the entire walk. When he turns to check , however, the only person walking alone and not engaged in conversation is Luke.   
  
"What'd Willie want?" Reggie asks as they move into the same seat together.   
  
"I think he wanted to be my partner for the project," Alex infers. "He didn't say anything, just asked if I had a partner already and then kinda sighed when I told him I was working with you."  
  
"Why in the hot **FUCK** would you say that?!" Reggie sits up in his chair, leaning over the top of the seat to see Willie clearly. "Hey, hey, Willie!"  
  
Willie lifts his head to see Reggie. Over the engine of the bus and the talking students, it's hard to make out anything he's saying. Alex immediately grabs his friend, pulling him back down into the seat.   
  
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Alex asks, spinning in his chair to lift his eyes just barely over the seat. Willie looks confused, and rightfully so.  
  
"Dude, he wants to be your assignment partner. If that's not a big, _I WANT TO DATE YOU_ , I really don't know what is."  
  
"You are looking way, way too into that." Alex shoots back, shaking his head. "He probably just wanted to know if I would give him my workbook so that he and his friends could work together. I promise you, it's not that deep." Pulling the laptop of out of his backpack, Alex is relieved to find that the two hours he was actually able to charge it between going to bed last night and waking up for school were enough to give him at least enough battery life to play for the duration of the trip. Only, of course, as long as he doesn't use it at all during the actual museum tour.   
  
Reggie spends the entirety of the bus ride turning ever once in a while to look at Willie. He tries to report back to Alex what the man is saying, doing, how he's sitting and the like, but alex dismisses him enough times to unsubscribe from minutely Willie details and gossip. Alex hits play on the video file sitting on the desktop of his computer, the starting credits to Love, Actually coming on screen immediately.  
  
"Whacha watching?" Alex is startled by Luke's voice, he hangs over the back of their chair, his face uncomfortably close with Alex's.   
  
"This- Uh, this dumb rom-com called Love, Actually." Alex replies, nodding his head.   
  
"Looks cute," Luke says, not turning to the screen. His and Alex's eyes are locked for a lot longer than would be deemed socially acceptable, but there's a tension to it that makes it feel less like _two people meeting for the first time and realizing they're meant for each other_ and more like _a man deciding to rob the other sets his eyes on his target for the first time_. Alex offers Luke the other headphone, and he takes it without much revelry. 

Alex is no stranger to both Luke and Willie, that much should be made clear. He's known both of them for the majority of his life. He even went to summer camp with Luke a few times before they went to junior high. It's important to note that Reggie is, in fact, Alex's best friend, but not his only friend. Willie, before he started playing football, has always had an interest in sports. He used to play on Alex's junior soccer league when they were both young. They've all gone to school together for the extent of their school career, however, through either truth or circumstance, they never grew very close.   
  
Willie and Alex have never been at ends of the spectrum. Alex still remembers attending Willie tenth birthday party with his mom. They used to hand out not infrequently and play video games or with their action figures until one day they just didn't. Willie found the people he'd prefer to hang out with and Alex found the people who preferred to hang out with him. There's no _Willex_ because Alex and Willie are not actually friends. They don't even know each other that well, save for the casual greeting in the hallway.   
  
Luke and Alex have a similar history. They used to make finger paintings together and share a mat in kindergarten, played on the same junior high leagues for sports like most kids do. However, Luke starting diverging his path a little bit more than Willie's. While Willie had opportunity after opportunity thrust upon him, Luke seemed to take opportunity wherever he could get it. It started small, as it often does, with shoplifting and getting into fights. Drug possession but never use, that sort of thing. There's a whole secret life to Luke that Alex doubts he'll ever know. Though, that doesn't remove him from the pool of people who make him feel things. Luke hasn't been on the list long, but his last interaction with Alex certainly landed him favorably.   
  
"I never said thank you." Alex says, pausing the movie to look at Luke.   
  
"For what?"  
  
"Standing up for me. I know you were suspended for standing up for me."  
  
"I was suspended for starting a food fight," Luke clarifies.   
  
"Which you wouldn't have done if Peter Collins hadn't-"  
  
"I also just don't like Peter Collins." Luke's stare is nearly unbearable; both for Alex who takes it's eight, and for Reggie, on the other side of Luke's head. Luke smirks, pulling the headphone out of his ear and handing it back to Alex. "I guess I like you more than I like him, huh?"  
  
Luke slinks back into the chair behind him. He sits alone, despite every other seat on the bus holding a pair of students.   
  
_What the fuck?_ Reggie mouths. Alex can only offer a shrug in response.   
  
Two weeks ago, before Luke's triumphant return and at the forefront of his suspension, Luke was involved in a food fight in the cafeteria, second week back at school after the summer break. Freshly seniors and with a whole new dynamic, Peter Collins, aka the bane of Reggie and Alex's lives, is seen preparing to throw something at the pair, as he often does. However, just as he cranks back to chuck whatever mishmash of food products he's prepared, Luke sends a handful of peas sailing into his face, causing him to lose direction and hurl the tonic in his hand directly at the principal, who sits only a few tables away. This ignites what will come to be known as the first food fight, or, the first one had at the school since it's official reopening after a fire twenty years ago.   
  
Still, incredible to watch, despite Alex's disbelief that it was only two weeks ago, and that they've only been seniors for a collective month.   
  
Though many of the kids involved sit on the very same bus, Luke is the only one formally punished. He has a track record, and by the looks of him, he's happy to oblige it.   
  
There are collective cheers as the bus pulls up to the college. This is where Alex will be attending next year, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little excited to be here. "Oh, man, just thinking about college makes me so excited," Reggie rants. "The parties, the drinks, the ladies. Well, dudes, in your case."  
  
"I'm not gay," Alex laughs, turning from the window. "At least, I don't think? The jury is still out, dude."  
  
"Whatever. The point is, we're going to be up to our noses with shit to do. I can practically smell the extra credit from here!"   
  
Alex nods in agreement, happy that Reggie can find a balance between wanting to have fun and wanting a good education. Neither one of them has made an solid plans for careers yet, but they sure have talked at length about what they want to do once they hit college.   
  
Exiting the bus is both the worst pain in the ass and the first step to starting their trip, as the first question on the worksheet is a freebie; What's the number bus that we arrived on? Alex turns back to the bus as he steps off, making note of the number before finding Reggie again.   
  
As they make their way to the doors, Alex spots Willie and starts to wave to him, an out of character gesture to try and mend whatever relationship they mgh have had despite Alex volunteering the information that Reggie would be his partner. Willie lifts his head and waves, a small smile on his face. immediately, his attention is drawn to Carrie, who jumps on him from behind. He laughs, carrying her around for a bit on his back.   
  
"Are they-?" Alex asks, turning to Reggie.   
  
"I don't know." Reggie shrugs, attention darting from the scene to Alex and then back. "I guess so."  
  
"Oh," Alex whispers.   
  
If, in some world, in some way or some time, he and Willie could be together, he hoped it would've been this one. There's a part of him that is still so unsure about so many things. There's no right gender for him because gender is fake, and he certainly hasn't gotten acquainted well enough with anyone's genitals to say he prefers one of the other with any sort of certainty.   
  
Still, that doesn't make seeing Willie with Carrie any easier. 


	2. Never Ending Circles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the museum.

_"I'll go my way if I'm going at all.  
This time, believe that the strong  
red lines that I draw will come  
and cover you up."   
_  
-Cook, Iain; Mayberry, Lauren; & Doherty, Martin. " **Never Ending Circles**." _Every Open Eye_ , performed by CHVRCHES, Goodbye Records, 2015.  
  
The thing that romance movies and novels never tell you is that real life is often contradictory to the feelings that help us navigate the real world. There is an ebb and flow to things, a true direction to how one thing ends and another beginnings. Alex is not unfamiliar with this cycle. He's dated a number of girls and enjoyed his time with all of them. the problem is not the beginning of the ride, but the ending. There are always bumps, bruises, sometimes breaks. There is always one person that suffers more than the other, always someone the cultivates sad playlists on _Spotify_ with terrible music from indie artists that sound like they belong on a soundtrack to Twilight. There's always someone that takes it harder than the other.   
  
Alex is so far in his head that he doesn't notice that everyone he'd been walking with, including Reggie, has since moved on. His eyes are locked with a replica of a Velociraptor, looking it over and wondering if this is what it's really supposed to look like, or if it's just one of those reptile equivalents that were made popular by some Jurassic Park movie.   
  
"If you stare for too long, it might start moving." Alex jumps as Luke appears behind him, thumbnail threaded between his teeth. There are chips in his black nail polish from where he's chewed through the soft keratin, where the tooth makes direct contact with the nail. "We'll have a real Ben Stiller situation if you keep this up."  
  
"Am I Ben Stiller in this analogy?" Alex asks, smirking.   
  
Luke nods. "Obviously. Main character privilege is a real thing and I think you are more than worthy of the title."  
  
Blushing is fine in theory, but a terrible awful plague in practice. Alex feels his face warm up as he's complimented, and turning to look at Luke, who stares back at him, only serves to make things worse. He turns away, quickly, hoping to hide how red his pale skin has become at the attention. He was never this charming when they were kids. The Luke in Alex's memory is persistently awkward, only barely coming into his own style and becoming his own person. This version of Luke is so confident, so sure of himself.   
  
"It gives me very serious Power Ranger vibes. I'm honestly just waiting for an alien to come out from behind the exhibit and tell me that I've been chosen to take on the Velociraptor spirit or something." Both Alex and Luke giggle at the though. The hallway is filled with the sound of their laughter, and Alex wonders if anyone at all can hear them. Would anyone know that they're there? Would anyone even care that they're alone together?  
  
Luke points to a set of fossilized teeth in the display next to the exhibit, tilting his head to one side to get Alex's attention. "The power you seek is closer than you think," he says in a strange, high pitched alien mockery. "Perhaps the ability to transform has been inside you all along."  
  
They laugh in tandem once more, Luke's shoulder nudging Alex's. The contact is brief, but it's enough to make Alex very aware of their positions. They're definitely closer than they were when Luke first arrived, and Alex wonders to himself if it's more troubling that he didn't notice the other man approach him, or if he wishes he would come closer.  
  
"Can I ask you something?" Alex questions.  
  
Luke nods in response. "Shoot."  
  
"Do you ever miss hanging out?"  
  
"With you?"  
  
"Duh."  
  
Luke ponders the question, weighing the options in his head before replying. The thought required to get a response out of him is clear on his face. "I don't like to fool myself into believing that we could've stayed kids our whole lives. That being said, I certainly do miss drinking juice pouches together in Mrs. Reynolds class." Alex shoves him with a smile. "I mean it! Real life comes around and kind of steals that away from you, y'know? We became teenagers and then young adults so quick, it feels like we were friends one day and then not the next." His tone fills with sonder. "I started hanging out with Bobby and his crew, you started hanging out with Reggie. We just... Aren't kids anymore. Does that answer your question?"  
  
Alex goes through the memories of them together as children quickly, sorting the parts in ways that make sense only to him. Is it possible to quantify how much someone's touch can effect you? Is there a scientific method to emotions? Maybe all the things he remembers about Luke are just pretty words in a made up world of his own making.   
  
"Kind of wish we were sometimes." Alex whispers, returning his gaze to the Velociraptor.   
  
"I don't know." Luke smiles. "I kinda like grown up Alex. He's much more interesting to look at, at least.  
  
Before Alex can turn his face to hide the now unbearable amount of blush on his face, he hears a voice from down the hall. "Alex?" Reggie calls. Alex lifts his head, waving to his friend as he approaches.   
  
"Gotta keep working on that project. See you later?" Alex asks, moving around Luke carefully, just distant enough to avoid touching him.   
  
Luke smiles. "Count on it, Power Ranger."  
  
Alex rejoins with Reggie, taking the paperwork from him as the other man yawns. "We're almost done? Already?" Alex looks over the pages, reading Reggie's atrocious handwriting and checking it for correctness. "Not going to lie, this is a little underwhelming."  
  
"Underwhelming because I've done most of it." Reggie shoots at him. He offers the man his pen, narrowing his eyes. "You're more than welcome to finish the rest of it. I'm gonna go see what the Sophie and Caroline are up to." He has a look on his face like a dog that's been without food for too long.  
  
Alex lifts his eyebrows at him, smirking at the thought. "Alright, be free. I will finish the assignment." Reggie grips the air and then pulls his fist to his chest in celebration, reaching out when he's done to grip Alex's face in his hands. He takes off down the corridor, following the sound of the large group of cheerleaders.   
  
Reading through the questions, Alex takes inventory of what's left to do. He'll have to visit the animal kingdom, then see a bit of the pottery, and end with the exhibit on modern man. He makes a mental map of the museum and the quickest route, realizing the direction he's begun walking is the wrong one. Turning on a heel, he slams into Willie. He fully collides with the man's chest, sending his papers and pen flying into the air. "Oh, fuck." Willie whispers, immediately dipping to the ground to start picking them up. "I'm so sorry."  
  
"No, you're fine," Alex reassures him. "I turned so quickly, I didn't even realize you were- Right behind me. What were you doing right behind me, by the way?"  
  
Even when he was walking, he hadn't noticed Willie anywhere near where he was. He's sure he would've at least heard his voice somewhere along the empty rooms or long walkways. The blush that appears on Willie's perfectly tanned skin betrays his cool and casual exterior. "I came looking for you, actually. Split off from my group to see if I could get a word in."  
  
"Oh? And what would would that be?" Alex asks as they both stand in unison, Willie handing over the paper in his hand.   
  
"I was actually going to see if you were coming to Julie Molina's party this Saturday?"  
  
"Ah, probably not." Alex sighs. "Wasn't invited. Haven't talked to Julie in weeks."  
  
"Well, I'm inviting you." Willie says, staring at Alex. The two never once take their eyes off of each other. "Julie said I could invite whoever. If you want to come, that is, I think it could be super fun."  
  
The pursuit of one person by another when it comes to a romantic relationship is the part of courting that Alex has the hardest time understanding. There are only so many steps to shooting your shot to be completed, only so many layers of a dance before one person either gives up or the other person gives in. Thinking back on his past relationships, Alex can't think of a single one of them in which he either pursued his possible partner or was pursued by them. All of his relationships up to his point have been ones of convenience. They're friends, they become romantically involved, the romance lasts for four or five months, the romance fizzles out, they break up.  
  
"Sorry, are you asking me out?" Alex asks.   
  
Willie immediately does a double take, shaking his head and scrunching his face in the most uncomfortable manner possible. He looks almost constipated before he's able to spit out what he's trying to say. "Wh-What?! No way, of course not. I'd never come in between you and Reggie like that, I am totally respectful of what you guys have."  
  
"Me and Reggie?"  
  
"Y-Yeah. You picked him as your project partner and then I saw him grab your face earlier..." Alex's expression must betray some sort of information, as Willie's blooms with realization. "You mean you guys aren't dating?"  
  
Alex scoffs, "me and Reggie? No way. He's my best friend." Willie looks like someone's just pulled a weight off his head. "I mean, I'd love to go, but won't Carrie have something to say about it if you're spending all your time with me and not her?"  
  
"Carrie?!" Willie nearly shouts. A few students down the hall turn their attention to them. "Carrie is interested in me, but I'm not so much into her."  
  
"Is that so?"  
  
"Yeah. I may be.... I might be interested in someone else."  
  
As much mess as he'd talked about not knowing if he likes men or not, Alex sure is toying with the idea of making out with Willie in his head a lot. He imagines them together, at the party, completely separated from the others, lips pressed together and moving like one is trying to devour the other. He can feel Willie's soft skin under his fingers, palms gripping his forearms in an attempt to pull him closer. There's too much space between them, even with their chests pressed together and their tongues in each other's mouths. He imagines pressing his crotch into Willie's, rubbing his quickly growing-  
  
"So?" Willie interrupts the daydream. Probably for the better. "Think you can make it?"  
  
What a loaded question.  
  
"I'll see you there." Alex smiles, hoping that the response is as flirtatious as he means it to be. He takes Willie's quick brush of hair out of his face as a sign that its hit just as he intended.   
  
They don't say much more to each other beyond the casual see you laters and have fun working on the project. Niceties between students, Alex figures.  
  
Alex sends a quick message to Reggie about his location before sitting down on one of the benches and using the plaques set up near the exhibits to fill out his sheet of paper. The cognitive dissonance between his talk with Willie and how he feels is massive, a gaping hole at the center of his consciousness. There's something so cliche about someone like Alex being interested in the captain of the football team, regardless of how long they've known each other. There are a thousand books and movies about why being interested in. Willie is either the worst idea he's ever had or the best, and he can name all of them printed and debuted in the last twenty years. The good thing about being obsessed with film and media revolving around a particular genre is that you become something of an expert at recognizing the tropes. Alex allows himself to consider and imagine the relationship with Willie, let the fantasy play out until it's done and then start over.   
  
Then again, the other half of this factor is Luke. Both he and Willie give Alex. the same butterflies, the same feeling of interest he feels like he's been missing. they both allow him access to something internally he hadn't been able to reach before. Not only is this news noteworthy, it's also worth protecting, especially from Reggie. All he'll do is gloat about how he knew all along that Alex liked guys,. He'll cheer and hoot about his extra sensory perception of the homosexual attraction gave him insight Alex did not, in fact, have up until this point. He'll, even admitting it to himself now, he can't fully comprehend the vastness that this revelation opens up for him. Still, the door is open, whether he likes it or not.   
  
Once the questions have been answered, Alex pulls out another notebook and begins scribbling down all the things he thinks he'd look for in a male partner, and ends up just describing Willie in six or seven various ways. There are bits of Luke thrown in for flavor, but since their big split, Alex comes to the conclusion that he just doesn't know enough about Luke anymore to accurately give him the kind of precedence he's warranted. He begins scribbling their initials in hearts like a lovesick puppy, showed the smallest amount of affection and immediately pining for the attention.   
  
Reggie finds him a few minutes later and the two walk around the museum with the time they have left. Reggie goes on and on about how he could date one of the cheerleaders, Alex informs him that they've been invited to Julie Molina's party, which stirs him up even more. He sees both Luke and Willie casually moving through the building. They both acknowledge him in their own ways, not bothering to come face to face with him, but making sure to seek him out in a crowd. Alex wonders if he would've even registered them before they started showing interest in him. Willie for sure, because it's hard not to notice him, but Luke he's still on the fence about. When did Luke begin to blend into the background for him?  
  
Alex decides while getting on the bus when the day is over that he'll allow himself to give into these feelings, regardless of outcome. He's never said no to a date with a girl, why should he start now? He pulls out his laptop to finish his movie on the way back, sinking into a fictional world where love prevails and things end up exactly where it's supposed to be. He wishes the same for himself.   
  
He hopes.   
  



End file.
